Building community and camaraderie: Bob Chesney takes the Bruins to Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. – Since he first joined the program, head coach Bob Chesney has made a concerted effort to distinguish himself from past UCLA football regimes and a big way that he's already done that is with a policy of openness. 

It started with UCLA's Spring Game held at the Rose Bowl in April and has since continued on with UCLA's official open practice at Irvine Great Park, where families, local peewee football teams and alumni could all gather for a special inside look at the new Bruins. 

"It was awesome. We came down to an alumni event earlier at one of our alums' houses over here in Newport Beach and it was unbelievable," Chesney said. "The amount of people down in this area that were supportive of this program is great."

Dakota Gray

UCLA linebacker Jalen Woods (9) runs drills during practice Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Los Angeles.

Connecting with the public and with each other

It's not something that the program has always done, but those programs weren't led by Chesney, and with all of the radical change, either through recruiting or coaching hires, that Chesney has brought to the program, a policy of openness is just the tip of the iceberg. 

The 2026 season may be fast approaching, but there's still a lot of work to do for Chesney and the Bruins and after a hard session under the blazing Irvine sun, Chesney is planning on introducing a little fun into the program for the Bruins on their off day on Wednesday and take advantage of their proximity to the Orange County coastline to do it. 

Dakota Gray

UCLA defensive lineman Sahir West (15) participates in practice on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Los Angeles.

"They get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow and then we'll head down to the beach and have a cookout out there, Newport Rib Company sponsoring it," Chesney said of the team's off day plans. "After that, we're just hanging out together down there… Tomorrow would be a good day for them to experience."

Chesney said that the team was presented with a few different options for their eventual weeklong destination for the second week of training camp, but settled on the facilities at the Great Park. The purpose of having a week away from Westwood altogether was so the team could get a taste of the away game experience, including playing in unfamiliar territory and rooming with each other in a hotel. 

Derek Carr's role

Chesney also shed a little more light on the somewhat surprising hiring of former NFL quarterback Derek Carr that the Bruins announced on Monday. Chesney said that, as expected, Carr's relationship with UCLA general manager Darrick Yray, who was an offensive assistant and assistant director of football operations at the same time that Carr was a student-athlete there, was the key factor in garnering Carr's interest. 

On top of that, Carr lives in Newport beach, just a few minutes away from the Great Park and still within reasonable driving distance of Westwood and the Rose Bowl, meaning it isn't much trouble for the former Pro-Bowler to pop over and share some of his expertise.

"When Derek Carr asks to help, the answer is yes," Chesney said. 

Carr won't be around all the time, but he's already made some appearances during Spring practice and is expected to be at plenty of home games this season and with the insight that he'll be able to add to the Bruins' quarterback room will be huge.